Venn Diagram Between Liberal Party And Rugby Australia Now Even Closer To Becoming A Full Circle

CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | CONTACT

Australia's embattled Federal Opposition leader, Sussan Ley, is facing a leadership challenge from her shadow defence minister after multiple resignations from her Shadow Ministry.

Ley is the first woman to head the Liberal Party, and took control of the party after the bloodbath 2025 election, where Labor romped home with 94 seats mostly due to a major swing against the Coalition from Australia's female voters.

Where did 'The Women Problem' start?

Once upon a time, the Liberals were the go-to choice for female voters. In the pre-war years, they represented the kind of common sense that the macho Catholic boys club of the Labor Party was devoid of.

They endorsed temperance, and the 6 o'clock swill. In a country full of drunk and violent convict descendants, these kinds of policies appealed to the long-suffering wives who'd recently be given the vote.

Fast forward half a century, and Labor realises it was them that had the 'Women Problem'. At the 1994 ALP National Convention, they enforced gender quotas. Less than a decade later, they had bolstered their ranks with generational heavyweights like Julia Gillard, Tanya Plibersek and Penny Wong.

Around this time, the Liberals started flirting with this disenfranchised middle class voter base that came to be known as 'Howard's Battlers'. They were aspirational. And they swung like motherfuckers - as Howard walked the streets in his famous Wallabies tracksuit.

But like Australian rugby, the Liberals have been on the decline since their early 2000s high water mark.

Like rugby union, they haven't had many wins, they are non existent in at least three major states, and they constantly change their leadership for short-lived sugar hits.

Women are now meant to be players - not just supporters. And the bush is feeling ignored. The party's base is mostly made up of post-war millionaire suburban property investors - and the vast majority of them feel uncomfortable casting a wider a net to win over multicultural supporters.

But is rolling the first female leader the right idea?

It's true Ley has been plagued by poor poll numbers and infighting within the coalition, but is Angus Taylor just the Liberal Party's answer to Robbie Deans?